The Heartless Alpha’s Beloved Luna (Avery and Gideon) novel Chapter 452

Avery’s POV

I was about to respond when Sebastian spoke first.

“That’s none of your business,” he said.

Gideon snapped his head toward him. “I think it is my business, when it involves my mate.”

“She may be your mate, but she doesn’t belong to you.”

“She doesn’t belong to you either, Sebastian.” Gideon turned to me then, his expression more imploring now. “Reject him,” he said. “I’ll mark you and accept Bjorn as my heir, even if he isn’t my biological son. You don’t need Sebastian.”

My lips parted.

I didn’t get a chance to speak.

“Now you’re just scrambling,” Sebastian cut me off, laughing bitterly. “She doesn’t want you, Gideon. Get used to it.”

“Is that so?” Gideon turned fully to Sebastian, his back now to me. “Because when I was in her bed last night, she certainly seemed to want me, while you were sleeping down the hall, all alone.”

My stomach knotted, face flushing. “Gideon!” I protested. But he didn’t seem to hear me. If he did, then he was doing a damn good job of not showing it.

Sebastian, upper lip curling back now to reveal a sneer, took a step forward. His chest nearly brushed Gideon’s. “She might open her bed to you,” he whispered, “but that doesn’t mean she loves you, or that she could ever love you. Loneliness doesn’t equal real connection.”

Gideon’s chin lifted. “And you know what real connection is? You’re the one who’s been chasing her from the beginning, to no avail.”

“Right.” Sebastian snorted. “That’s rich, coming from the man who couldn’t even find his own mate for ten years.”

I pinched my nose, exhaling slowly. The pain in my head was rapidly worsening, and it didn’t seem to have anything to do with this one particular tree, where I’d found myself during my last migraine.

…

Gideon’s POV

“You spent weeks letting her walk around in your wedding ring, playing dress-up,” I snarled. “And what did it come to? Nothing. She doesn’t love you. She’ll never love you.”

Sebastian’s eyes darkened. “She could learn to love me, just as I love her. At least I can offer her a better life, a safe one, one that’s free from—”

“From me?” I asked. “Because I already found a way in despite your so-called ‘protection’.” I watched Sebastian’s face very carefully. Noticed the slightest shift in the muscles beneath the skin.

He was panicking. It was small, and he was concealing it well, but it was there. I could see it in the way his eyes narrowed faintly, the way his lips pursed, the way his jaw feathered just so.

“You know that my relationship with Avery is on the mend,” I said slowly. “You thought you had more time to win her over, but you don’t. You never did. And now you’re using her sick son as a gateway to ensnare her before she has the chance to come back to me.”